City in Rock Face

[essahc]

Nice stuff.....hope to see more

[DogBreath]

Really like the clouds at the level of the cliff it has a nice surreal quality.

The arch image on your site is impressive, could you perhaps include it in your shot, by looking at the scene thru the arch.

What part of LOTR inspired your images.

keep em coming !:airguitar

[ME3D]

I'm loading a cloud test with this. Its not going to be used but tests are fun sometimes.

essahc:
Thanks, Glad you like. More on the way by late this evening . Stay tuned so to speak.


DogBreath:
Thank you for the input. I'll be working these clouds into something much more fitting to my concept, but just having a bit of fun playing with fluids first.
As for the arch thanks again. All the pieces you saw on my site are part of this scene, save the rock face which I mentioned was part of the initial concept. Now the rock will be reworked as I finish filling the cliff with the city elements. Just a different approach to achieve a specific scale.

There are 3 of the first cameras already on the site to view in DivX. You may catch site of where the arch is placed there. Its floating but soon to be set in stone so to speak once more.

[ME3D]

Not in whole is this inspired by LOTR, but the place is directly the same. You'll see what I mean after looking at the 4th,5th, and 6th camera settings. I like the dusky time of day look in several films so this is one of several that drew my attention.

The library or monks place that Ghandalf visits at the beginning of Fellowship of the ring has a 3-5 second shot of a city in a rock face.

I love the idea of this, but like in many films it just didnt seem to get the attention it deserved. 3-5 seconds keeps the film rolling along, but a lot of time/attention went into building this shot for such a short glimpse. I'd like to take that direction and give a more detailed look into a city like this. Not that city but just a city, with a different world and a different purpose.

[DogBreath]

The place where Gandalf got the info on the ring was cool. I like what you've done in this new shot. I was going to look at your avi's but have only a 56k so will look later after weekend, if u know what I mean.

Looking foward to seeing this when u finish putting it all together.

[ceql]

hey Wow, the second pic looks awesome! :D The Cloudy haze really makes the image... very atmospheric! :applause: What are ya doing them in btw? Maya fluids?

[Phattro]

Nice Texture work !! Really like the detail of the map on the structures.

The second image of the cloud test is quite nice...really like the mood u got with that piece.

And also I like the way you show your work in progress...very informative.

phattro

[ME3D]

Dogbreath,
Isnt that shot with ghandalf in LOTR too good to be just 3 second?
Yeah I understand about the band width. If its easier I could zip them up or some thing. I may even have a newer set of them by Saturday.

Ceql,
Thank you. Yes it is maya fluids for the clouds and haze. Its hard to get the idea across in the early stages like this and sometimes its fun to run some of the post or the effects whil in mid design to see if my idea is actually heading the in the right direction. I have already placed in new clounds and such which I may keep for the remainder of this so I'll render more after the bulk of the city is done. Thanks again for the comments.

Phattro,
The feel from lighting is a major focus for me on this one. i'm glad you like. The updates and progress will be on my site to get an idea where this started from and where it will end. Its usually pretty dead on with my sketchs so we'll see.

Thanks again. All comments as well as crits are welcome. I'll post more unfnished work here soon so theres more to go on.

[DogBreath]

Yes that shot is too short...unfortunately I can ony remember the part when he walks down the stairs with a candle or torch. I have only seen it twice on the big screen.

I am waiting for the special edition 3 movie pak to be released after xmas.

I will check out your previews next week thanks for the offer though.

Looking foward to seeing more like your last post.

[Frank Dodd]

Very nice work in particular on the Arches and the Domed building that have lots of great texturing detail in there. Perhaps more detail on the tall bulbous buildings would improve their surface texture.

Well done.

[ME3D]

Frank dodd:
Thanks. The bulbous one you mentioned (tulipTower) is the one I've had several comments on and since all are positive I'm gathering that the something "weird" about it is it needs a connection to the other architectural styles...I'll try somthing on this tonight.

DogBreath:
I'll keep the images coming. Hope you enjoy.

No more renders just yet tonight , but I've been painting the hell out of the next pieces. So I figured I would share a bit of this.

Textures are from collections off the web or pics from my digital cam to begin with then I paint alot to get a larger res out of several pics. I also use the dodge and burn a lot I guess since a friend of mine seems to mention I'm always doing it that way I suppose its a favorite of mine.

Anyways heres a pic of the color map and I'll post again as soon as I shoot this one in the scene to show where it ends up.

C&C are very welcome on this. Dont worry about my feelings just say what ya see. Or dont see I guess as well...lol

[ME3D]

Okay here is the base of the building I mentioned that texture was for. Pretty quick I'll up=date as well the scale elements to post. I have some spiral staircases and more floors to be added in the two main archways.

Crits comments & Questions?

[ME3D]

I think its time to move to the next building. So here is an image of the Two Arches Tower with the inner staircases and the new floors added. I also went back to paint in more variations in the lower large windows. Different shudder types and curtains open to innner chanbers. You just barely pass by here in the animation so I didnt spend and more time than to quickly give the illusion of detail.

Speaking of the illusion of detail anyone noticed those railings you can see through and all the other pieces arent modeled either?

I really like the modeling of a city but this time im really taking liberties and not buiding as much of the elements. This is due to the level of detail in a larger city then normal. I havent let on much as to how big this is but that should be a good hint if you've see my other cities. The detail of this should be noticably more intense. More on that later when I post the scope of this on my site.

[DogBreath]

Looking good - I'm just getting your previs avi's now.
I went to the front page and noticed you have done alot of work on your site. :eek:

Your link to Camera3previs_02.avi is pointing here Camera2previs_01.avi.

They look even better than the stills.

Cool url.:thumbsup:

[ME3D]

Dogbreath:
The avis show better what I havent even mentioned yet. I hate to place a discription of the projects scope just yet as I am still wanting to develop this to a certain point before "fixin" up the siteI will clean all of that up though as this continues to develop.

The 3 avi's on my site are the first 3 camera's in the scene. I'll have the next 3 as soon as the bulk of the rock face is set in my layout. Without seeing the cliff full of these buildings, the stadium, and the castles its hard to see where im going.

Yes my gallery has grown over the past several years. It wasnt untill last month that I began sorting out the projects and building this new site. still more to do but isnt there always? :)

Oh thanks as well for mentioning the link I'll fix it as I load my next set.
Back to work I go.

[ME3D]

NEW SITE NEWLY Redone SITE as of 10:00 tonight. (http://www.me3d.tv/garry/GELindex.html) NEW SITE

WIP page on ME3D site. (http://www.me3d.tv/garry/GELsketches.html)

[ME3D]

http://www.me3d.tv/garry/images/maindome.jpg

Previs animation coming next.

[Frank Dodd]

It looks like a very nice site and a lot of hard work well spent in there. I think the main 'dome building' image needs shortening though there is a lot of white space at the bottom, I had the browser pop up in a window and all of the relevant information had to be scrolled into view.

There is some very nice work in the gallery and you can clearly see how your skills have progressed over the years

Also congratulations on the tutorial too, I always applaud contributions like that to the 3D community there are some nice tips in there.

All in all a good job :thumbsup:

[ME3D]

Frank Dodd,
Thanks for the input I really appreciate it. I am nearly finished cutting down the amount of white on those images.

Thats the type of thing I'm looking to catch on here or see what peoples opinions are of my past works. Always could use improvement I believe so feel free to drop in. I'll be updating this all with the little WIP section being the focus. Also concerning the tutorial thank you. I will mention on there soon the other tuts I've done. Right now I'm helping with the ideas and some methods for the Maya 5 Fundamentals book, as well as acting as one of the tech editor. Then I'll probably say a bit eventually about this set of training videos called "Advanced Maya" which will be out just after the maya 5 book is released. For all those who saw the advertisement for this in the last book. The quick release of maya 5 set things back as we saw it coming we began redoing all the tuts for 5.....Thanks Alias! :)

Anyways I'll post all of this in detail later this week hopefully.
Later on.

[ME3D]

Just changed the longest camera animation (camera 3)
and have loaded it and the first 2 cameras to my site for download. The movies are ...Div-X.....avi's
Anyone prefering .mov's ...speak up.

camera1 (http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/previs52003Cam1.avi)
Size is 766 kbs

Camera2 (http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/previs52003Cam2.avi)
Size is 983 kbs

Camera3 (http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/previs52003Cam3.avi)
Size is 2.8 mgs
I'll load a new matte painting from this tomarrow.

Comments?

[ME3D]

The orange base color i painted to begin with for these is now in question.....I have decided another pass in the texture to bring a bit of grey and concrete subtly into the orange arizona type look.

I'm also adding balconies and more walk ways to keep setting theat "SCALE" I have schooling in Architecture so I am keeping this in mind, but I could use more comments. I began posting at the first of this to avoid color and feel issues as a finished animation.

Do or dont like the the feel of the city?

Do you see fantasy cities like real city with varying design in architecture and materials, or are there more views saying conformed architecture is the view of this type of city?

Comments?
Questions?
Suggestions?

[Phattro]

With your question on the visual aspect of the scene, I 'd like to see more update.

But to give you some feedback now. The orange base color can definitely use some adjustment.

Right now there's also certain inconsistency about your materials. I know it's WIP at this point

Hope to see more soon.

phattro

[ME3D]

Theres been a lot to update and build for this and I plan to update my wip section of my site in the morning. But heres a mis render I decided to paint on for 20-30 minutes tonight.

I'm not putting much time in on finished images since its not ready to render the full thing yet, but like tonight I just needed a break and wanted to paint a little. Its a shot from the top of the mountain near what is to become the main castle/ hall entered in the animation. I'm planning on showing more of a dark tone as we enter. Blue and purlple lighting have already begun. And the details will come. Its slow going with this large of a project though as I'm sure you can guess.

Hope someone "out there" enjoys it.


http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/52903halfscene.jpg

[alx]

nice stuff... are u sure its a wip hehe :P

no but seriously i like what u have done so far.. lighting is greaT..

keep it up...G =)

cya

sincerely
alx
:wavey:

[Threedeemer]

Wow. :eek: That is some inspiring stuff, lots of vision and creativity. I'll keep checking for updates maybe I can learn some cool things from this thread. :thumbsup:

[DogBreath]

I like the new concrete look, it is more realistic. It looks a bit like rain passing over or night falling. That could just be those tunnel lights creating that impression though.

How much time is this story covering - maybe you could use both looks for different times - eg: night and day. I do prefer the arizona one better, but thats why we see it in movies all the time I suppose.

The architectual style is not important in a city like this unless you want it to be for a reason. Just fill it up with more cool buildings.

[ME3D]

Alx,
Thanks man. Yes its really a WIP
I havent said much as of yet concerning what I'm doing here I guess. So here goes:

Focus is on lighting and detail after I have the model bulked out and painted how I want. I havent began to light yet this was just a beginning step, but that is the focus of the project to be honest so I will start soon.
All lighting will be straight maya5 and the focus of look, feel, and color is my utmost priority.
Main pieces will be this bright warm outside scene & the castle hall will be inside so the colors will become cold and blue to bring in a new feel to that portion.

There are about 14 more new pics on my site at:
More WIP images on my site (http://www.me3d.tv/garry/GELsketches.html)
http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/53003fullcity_08.jpg

[ME3D]

Dogbreath,
Thanks , The scenes are relatively quick in time although the camera action is really slow and monumental. There are a few places where quick moves will keep it exciting though I hope. ;-)
I'm trying to get a good mix on the concrete and may go with a very warm orange more from lighting for this scene. Then for the interior the blues will dominate as a layer in my texturing. I'm not far enought to make all the textures uniform just yet. Since this is really more of the testing phase after I decide I'll make all of them more similar. The Architecture isnt a huge focus for me this time but I am still really aware of it since my schooling was in Architecture and product design.
I do think all the buildings will have their own personality though. No city I've seen was in one style of architectural design..lol
That would immediately seem unrealistic....lol No place is that perfect even in fantasy.

Threedeemer,
I'm glad you've taken notice. Please feel free to comment or ask questions if you like. The site has more on it presently. I'll try to add more discriptions to the images later on.

[Frank Dodd]

Hi Garry,

Congratulations on the current round of images and animations. The city, now assembled, looks really great, the huge amount of quality detail in there certainly makes a crafted image.

The slight modifications you have made to the website seam to have improved it hugely too.

Nice one. :thumbsup:

[JulianJohnson]

hi there Garry well done its looking very good, you have some really nice details there in the buildings, it must of taken a while.
i'll look forward to seeing the finished images Good Luck with it.:thumbsup:

i'll check back some time to see how your getting on :)

[Threedeemer]

Cool ME3D, If I can get that type of atmosphere in my images that would be excellent. Bookmarked your website. :buttrock:

[ME3D]

Frank Dodd,
Thanks the website seemed to need a little more to it so I dug in for about 3 or four hours after wrapping up a project to get something a bit more "my style" whatever that is today....lol

Julian_J,
I'm glad you stopped by thanks. This is looking to be a growing project so it will be coming together more soon. I'd like to have something from this be my image for the Maya book. But I need to hurry up! ;)
I havent even began to talk about the inside. It seems to be the largest evolution in a project I've done. I usually do the concept on paper untill its very close to what I'm looking for. But this has been a roller coaster of various ideas and changes. Many new directions have been from crits on items that didnt work. Sometimes things just need to be trashed and started again. So this time has been fun to see where my imagination will lead me in the end product.

The next update is a bit more organic addittion to the rock this city sits on. Sorry to tease and not show it yet but it needs more time and I just got back in from a wedding.

Threedeemer,
I will try to talk more on the lighting for atmosphere and feel when I start that portion of this. But for now I'm treating this light setup as more of a general lighting scheme. Hopefully time will allow the addition of some volume lighting and water vapor from the waterfall I'll be adding soon.

This might be too big, but I'm working on using alot ot tricks to keep the timeline short for this.

[ME3D]

I'm about to dig into more of the organic rock I was hinting at before, and wanted to ask if anyone had comments on more of and orangish sky?

Also is the mix of orange and concrete looking like a winner for this as far as texturing.

Thoughts on more or less warm orange type texturing?

[Threedeemer]

I like the orange color. Would like to see how you set up the visible light with the atmospheric fog. Looking forward to updates. :beer:

[ME3D]

Threedeemer,
Cool I have one for the orange again. I was thinking of loosing the orange and just tinting the scene an orange through the lighting but I still am fond of a bit more orange in the texture. Just seems warmer.
The inside will be the oposite like i said, very cold and blue tinting. Thats all the lighting though.

As soon as I finish the animation I'll throw in the volume light, but thats a bit off. Heres some of the next things lined up.

1) I'll probably finish the model this week.
2) wrap up the consistancy issues in scale and textures.
3)Animate the flocks of birds

I decided to actually place birds in this time and not do it post. The waterfalls are another piece in the movement, but they will be done in combustion since I've done it there before and find it pretty fast and still looks right. For the large rock in the back it may get fluids covering it as a waterfall but thats not set in my mind as of yet.....Just considering it after being heavily influenced by another video...guess which one..lol
It just looked so cool in Robota I dont know if I can resist...hehe

[ME3D]

http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/organrock_01.jpg

[three]

Cool :thumbsup:
The only thing I can crit on is that I don't like the "blurryness", that much.

:beer:

[ME3D]

Birds fly by in the scene (http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/Birdsflyby.avi)
Heres a link to just a simple little playblast animation of birds flying by in that last scene.

Responses:
Three,
Your right I was wondering what everyone thought of that. Thanks for speakin up by the way I'm keeping track and trying to cover relevant issues like this as I go along. The blurry effect really needs more contrasting in the scene to work due to the scale. The glows will be a bit more intense in the end as well I'm thinking. I might be blurring this twice as I run through so I'll also try to double check.

Hmmmmm? Any other things pop out at ya as distracting or need more contrast? I havent really started tweeking the lights so that will be covered later. But modeling coloring and set design are all areas im covering right now.

Well back to work. The avi I linked to is just for fun. I'll make all the birds have different motion when I get to it....Aaaaaahhhhh
The list of to do's grows!

[Threedeemer]

Cool avi with the birds, I can imagine a cool cinematic animation of the camera panning about this beautiful world you created. Zooming in and such with the clouds and mist moving. :buttrock:

[ME3D]

I'm not sure how much I'd like to show of this before hand its hard to let things out in the first stages. But here is a cloud composite with just one layer of clouds and no effects, color correction, anything done to it. I had some time so I wanted to get a feel for the look. I'm not sure about loading this stage of work so I'll go by the response I get on here whether I keep doing it.

cloud composite with city in rock (http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/Cloudscomposite60703.avi)

Do you guys and gals want to see these inbetween stages or just skip to the final versions?????????

[DogBreath]

I like the birds, adds a whole new feel. I realise you have alot more up your sleeve, so you are prob already going to scale the birds to 25% - 15% of their present size. I appreciate seeing the cloud shot as well, enjoying your progress on this and how you are adding to it and putting it together.

[Matthewma]

loved the clouds, its a shame xsi can't produce something like that; damn maya; or whatever the hell you are using.

[TheWraith]

garry, the scene is looking great. that last rendered image is looking nearly complete. the colors you've chosen are terrific i think. the blurry effect really adds a nice dreamy feel to the scene. the problem i'm sort of having is that the blur is also making the textures appear more low res which is why i think i keep getting a "this game looks great" sort of feel when i look at the renders. for some reason, to me at least, it looks like screenshots of an upcomming fantasy game. i think that more contrast will definitely fix this as the whole city is pretty dull colorwise. i love the tone and the values, but they just seem a bit too flat. don't know if i'm getting this out the right way or not and explaining it the best, but i think the use of the blur is great for creating that dreamy feel, but perhaps it shouldn't be used as much as it is. maybe in fewer spots or so, leaving detail to come through in the textures. also, i'd really like to see some displacement mapping on those rocks holding up that building. i know maya's displacement sux so i can see why it might be worth avoiding. maybe rendering that element out in mray and comping them together? anyways, commin' along nicely :)

[ME3D]

Thanks for the response guys.
I have decide I will keep updating with the latest test render. Mainly due to your comments. (thanks for the input "DogBreath" I will continue the "inbetween renders" then.)
I may just add a disclaimer type of title at the bottom so new viewers see its still just test renders.

DogBreath: Yeah the birds size will be more in scale, and pretty quick here I have another LARGE flying creature to help give that feel of motion. the birds are good for motion but also will help to depict a vast scale I'm looking towards.

Mathewma: hehe It sucks seeing that in another 3d app I know, but im sure since I've used both max and maya both for a long time that there is a way XSI can do it. In fact most of the clouds in the video are "Maya Fluids" But several are particles (THe old way). The particles look good but fluids are faster for a big scene like this.

[ME3D]

TheWraith:
Good remarks, Thanks. I need to hear this type of thing. The blurring and entire blur glow effect used so far is on the full scene.
It does loose its crisp feel I agree. As I render the final frames it will be in passes ....So I'll probably create this on only specific passes to keep that feel. I think with having it only on the back layers it will provide a custom DOF effect I'm looking for.

Since you guys are mentioning "likes and Dislike" (Which I need to hear to improve this BTW... So thanks to all those contributing!)

I have seemed a bit sporatic in what is shown from this due to the size of this, but heres some verbage I may add in the intro PLUS heres a sneek at renders of the character from a week or so ago.

Intro Phrasing:
Weary minded: (working title/city in rock face)
As technology led man into new ages....
It has since been lost in the ages.....
Mans boldest creation in his own image brought such controversy as to lead civilization to its end.

Now many lifetimes later civilization rebuilds.
With a threat to the entire planet it is now that the creation of the past must become the savior of the future.

Or man will be lost.
http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/Mask_01.jpg
http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/Mask_02.jpg
http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/Mask_03.jpg

[TheWraith]

umm... what is THAT!?!? is that the head or some weird creatures entire body? i like the style... crazy lookin' :)

[ME3D]

Just the head with a faceplate on it in this shot. The body is coming together but I may finish the outside rock before I come in for more detail here. That way I can send the coty shots off to the render machines. Plus the innards of the castle may take precedence as well.....Ahhhhh so much to do.

The style of this guy will be a far diversion into the darkness I've wanted to let out for awhile. I never seem to have the right projects for dark scenes in my freelance or studio work.....so this guy will look....different.
I have more of the body and the tentacle dreadlocks are now softbodies so they have that jiggle and wave as he turns his head. more on him later.

BTW I'll send you a render of that mustang later on. I worked on it some, but obviously this is pulling my attention...lol

[ME3D]

The clouds are all rendering now so I'll probably get the little chunk in the puzzle set off later this week. I'll throw out some stills, but I may hold out on the final animation till I have all of this.. So as not to spoil it all I think.

Hmmmmm decision, decisions.

[ME3D]

Just a little test of using the glow/blur only on certain layers for the interior scene. Pretty subtle effect. What do you think?

http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/52903greatHall_03.jpg

[three]

I want to see more of that head, with more detail! :D

:thumbsup:

[TheWraith]

i think it looks MUCH better in that test. the columns appear pretty crisp showing off detail yet the colors still give the surreal/dreamy feel that i really like.

[Threedeemer]

Wow! Love the interior scene. :thumbsup: :buttrock:

[ME3D]

Hey guys thanks for the comments. I've really been buckling down in order to finish several pieces of this. Sorry to lapse in communicating here. I really like the criticizms through here....so feel free.

Anyway down to business I'm cinching up the bulk of this to start this week. Mainly the clouds intro into the full city pan shot, and then into the main hall interior. If I can I'll get the guy in there. who knows. otherwise he will be added later version. At that point I'll throw it into the finished gallery.

Three: The rest of this guy is mostly cloth and I have more to him already done, but I'll wait to add that to the shot. I may try to comp one images while the machines crank this render of the interior.

Wraith: Thanks i decided to only use my little glow blur thing scripts in select render layers, so the rest will all be glows within maya to keep the dreamy fantasy feel.

Threedeemer:
I may post another render test of the interior as it is now in the main hall. Its all heading in the cool dark and vacant direction as direct opposition to the outer warm looking city.

[ME3D]

This is the throne room and although the throne isnt added yet I am pretty happy with the look and feel of it. Next pieces
to go are volume light coming into the hall(to the left) and the volume lighting above the throne, which is now forming in the
center.Something else to add about these last 2 images is this is still all just the standard Maya renderer and no post has
been added yet. The glow you see is in the shader and the lighting is all done with spotlights so renders are around 5:30 mins.

C&C Welcome as I will be adding the throne soon and will go to final rendering at that point.....Sorry "Three" I dont think I'll have time for the creature on this run, but rest assured it will come around. So far this has been on the side for only a month by Sunday the June 15th.
http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/throneroom_800.jpg
http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/throneroom_1069.jpg

[ME3D]

well you can probably guess its been a few days so I'm nearing completion of several shots. Not sure if IU should continue this thread at all but I may since I still have several things that wont be ready for this render. Such as the character....Sorry just too much for one guy on a schedule. After all gotta still get the freelance work done and I'm applying at a new studio so lots to do.

New thread in Gallery section (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70035)

That link should work. We'll see. Hope to see you guys there.

http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/61603greatHall_01.jpg

[BiTMAP]

ground near tree's base could be broken up, (trees are strong and can break stone.... so it grew from the ground up) also it looks GREAT in the bigger renders most of the time, but looks rather "ugly" when you start to zoom in.

[Cryptite]

I know your trying to keep your rendering times to a low but i think those arcs in the 2nd image in your post before your most latest (think about it twice) needs to be meshsmoothed once more. It's a little unsmooth; I can see the face angles... other than that this is a GREAT shot!:bounce:

[silvia]

Can I cry now or later...?
Love your interior scenes!:applause:

[ME3D]

You guys surprised me I'm looking at wrappin this up tonight or tomarrow morning. I need some small detail props laying around any ideas?

The organic like structure and the stairs are misleading with that wire on it I apologize...It was built and around rock formation on the top of this mountain.....It more evident after passing over the city and coming in.....
Bitmap:
Thanks, I love the idea of detail around the base.....Phattro mentioned a base too. So since its not tree or something alive I'll have to think on what should be down at the base. Possibly just a more masonary looking set of flanges around it? The final render will have the bump and displacement turned back on as well. Thats just prerender to see whats happening on lighting.

Cryptite: Render times are good still around 5 and a half minutes so I'll take a look. You mean the arches on the ground level that are more tannish...right?
That shot is from when the camera follows the character jumping from that platform so im not sure if it will show in motion......I'll keep an eye on it.

Silvia: I was hoping you'd enjoy this. ;)

[crazymopho]

UPDATE!!! :beer:

[ME3D]

Thanks crazymopho
I have dug in and began trying to pull some of this together "reel" quick. ....lol

This first run is only for my film demo. A friend asked for it and I'll be sending it very soon..... Monday is the plan.

Then I believe as I develop a more detailed storyline my plan is to make this a complete short film. I expect at that point to probably work for the remaider of the year then to complete it.
I know. I know. Its been going faster than that so far but I have to switch gears now and work on the maya book. All my time will be there for awhile I'm sure.

As for this video we can just call that a prelim to a teaser. After all I havent had time to finish the hero right? I'll make an update on my site and link them in here right now while my renders are going.

BRB

[ME3D]

Well that took longer than I thought. I still have to rerender a set in the animation that was jittered. Little problems, but no big deal.

These 6 images are from a quick film demo I put together this week. (The demo has more projects on it but I'm just showing the city project)

The animation will be loaded to my animation gallery on my site very soon. And now since the story is coming along for this I'll be posting an info page talking about the story and timeline I have in mind for the full short. More of a finished product sort of page.
http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/Demoreel_00001.jpg http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/Demoreel_00216.jpg http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/Demoreel_00285.jpg

[ME3D]

http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/Demoreel_00590.jpg http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/Demoreel_00780.jpg http://www.me3d.tv/garry/projects/Demoreel_00953.jpg

[silvia]

Speachless...

How did you do those clouds? Flud effects?

[ME3D]

Yeah most are from fluids, although I have to admit going back to the "old way" and placed in several particle clouds for composition and flying around. Since this is my first run through for me to look over the scene and make changes I'm going to plan on more in the upper portion of the sky, but I may just use fluids partially and paint a dramatic swirl of clouds over the top of the hill. I also think the addition of water vapor like clouds will come in bursting up from where the waterfall dumps into. I dont really want it to become " cloud City" but more just fill in several parts of the composition in different colors, and types of clouds.

I started this idea with that intro. You may notice the cloud layer above is really more purple and blue. It just peeks through and doesnt steal you attention. So far.

[Pufferfish]

Incredible!

[DogBreath]

Really like the first two with the clouds - nice colours, and the way the city is just lurking in the background is effective. This is probably from the fly thru the city I suppose.

Its starting to look very impressive with all the work you have put into it.

[ME3D]

Sorry I dont have the animation for this seperated out but its included in a little demo piece I did. I'm going to post the story for this project and plan to keep building the city to completion. This I plan to do in my off time till the end of the year resulting in a short film based in this world I've began to show.
For now though if you'd like to see some animation

Demo page where you can pick the movie resolution and read ....stuff (http://www.me3d.tv/garry/GELdemo.html)
or
highband -8.3mgs (http://www.me3d.tv/garry/GELhighband.mov)
or
midband -2.5Mgs (http://www.me3d.tv/garry/GELmediumband.mov)
or
Lowband -335k (http://www.me3d.tv/garry/GELlowband.mov)

[DogBreath]

looking good - the music creates an nice etherial atmosphere.

The camera going around the clouds is a little disconcerting, (is it a charcters perspective or an intro/setup shot.)

Maybe you could get the camera to bank and make the path a bit smoother, or even just slowly move foward through the clouds.

Like your first cloud shot but longer and slower. With a few bird calls and /or some wind noise....then music fades in. hope you don't mind these suggestions.

I really like the sunset shot and the waterfall and burning building are coming along nicely.

[ME3D]

Thanks DogBreath.
In my demo only the first shots are from this project. The clouds, the city, and inside the castle.

The burning city is a finished shot I worked on at Digital Firepower in Hollywood. That scene is the big pan of the destroyed city in the film Dungeons and Dragons. I worked on the city then I set off destroying it. Also worked on the magic tower as well for an earliier shot, but it was pretty short and kinda dull. Thats the blue tower you see in the video just after the city.

Anyways I'll make a trailer for this new city as soon as I post the story. I've decided to name it "Weary Minded" Not sure If I mentioned that yet.

Oh dont mind the comments one bit. Any discussion of design, motion or any of this is helpful. I agree the clouds seem off. I like the look now but not the motion.
This is a first look for me as well to get a set idea what I want for the look and feel of the movie. The stills are good to check but for a longer animated piece like this is turning into I needed a better idea what to plan around. And its a good time to see how long it will take for certain new things like fluids.
In the story youll see i've added character to populate the city and there are some establishing shots that are based in our time. This is in our time to come.

[Threedeemer]

Yup, that is incredible. Your work is really inspiring me to try something similar with my interior environment. :beer:
Unfortunately I have never experimented with fog and fluids just yet.

[ME3D]

Threedeemer
Cool man I'm glad your liking the this so far. To be totally honest I had planned to do the castle interior later in the project, but in a large part due to yours and -Silvia's- thread I couldnt help beginning it early. Very good design ideas floating around in here with you guys and I thank you very much. Cant wait to see that throne room. I hope the aditions in the interior of my castle like the throne and the council area up on the platforms is of interest as well.
That zoom up in the video right now should show a lot of it, but for now the shot is just empty and that point....you saw.

I have a lot more to add to the city now that I've seen it in motion, and the castle interior will get an update after that point. Im not sure how much I'll change the existing interior other than lighting still needs work. I may just be adding in details and sculptures. Not to mention the character and the ....... "nemisis" of man which will be in this shot as well.

Later on,
G

[The-3D-Data-Labs-Guy]

cool stuff.. Keep it up! :applause:

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